Corporate: Southern Cross reveals much better FY19 profit and shares jump 27pc

Southern Cross Electrical Engineering (ASX:SXE) has jumped 27 per cent this morning after increasing its net profit by 51 per cent.

The company has enjoyed a successful year with its multitude of projects, the majority of which were in New South Wales bringing $386m in revenue.

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The New South Wales projects include Wynyard Place, Parramatta Square 3 and 4 as well as the Westconnex M4 and M5.

Its projects in other states include the RAAF in Townsville and Tindal as well as Rio Tinto’s (ASX:RIO) Arum Bauxite mine, the Wheatstone LNG project and NBN tower builds in WA and the NT.

Southern Cross has secured $360m in work across the current financial year and has an order book of $450m. It told shareholders it had opportunities in the pipeline exceeding $2.7 billion — $600m of which includes submitted tenders.

The company has identified as an electrical contractor focused historically on resources. But it has diversified across multiple sectors including communications, energy and utilities. CEO Graeme Dunn said the good result was thanks to this strategy.

“We expect a continuation of this strategy to lead to further growth in FY20,” he said.

“Our healthy balance sheet and order book of $450m, including over $360m of work to be performed in FY20, puts us in a strong position to achieve this.”

In other ASX corporate news today:

Fintech Raiz Invest (ASX:RZI) announced a 72 per cent increase in its revenue to $4.1m and a 21 per cent increase in customers to 194,360. The positive momentum has continued into the new financial year — it now has $373.4m in funds under management and 199,433 customers. It still recorded a loss of $7.1m but due to increased revenue this was 18 per cent lower than the preceding year.

Australia’s largest non-bank home loan lender Resimac Group (ASX:RMC) made a profit of $47.2m — an 86 per cent increase year on year. CEO Scott McWilliam attributed the result to strong earnings momentum and improved organisational cost efficiencies.

Australian Ethical Investment (ASX:AEF) made a net profit after tax of $6.5m from $41m in revenue. These were increases of 29 per cent and 14 per cent respectively. It now has $3.4 billion under management and over 43,000 members. Outgoing managing director Phil Vernon said, “we’re proud to continue to set the standard for ethical investing in this country’.”

Investment bank Moelis (ASX:MOE) made a half yearly net profit of $7.5m – down 30 per cent from the prior corresponding period. It also provided earnings guidance for the 2019 calendar year of $60m from underlying revenue of $155m. The company’s cash reserves are now $106m, up from $90m in its last report, and it plans to deploy this capital. But it stated it will be “patient and disciplined” in looking for opportunities.